Job-seekers will be compelled to conduct 40 job searches a month and carry out up to 25 hours a week of community work to keep dole payments, in a radical extension of mutual oblig­ation to be unveiled by the federal government.

Extending work for the dole and the creation of new wage subsidies for the long-term unemployed will be a key part of the proposed $5.1 billion job placement system the government plans to role out next year.

As this newspaper foreshadowed some months ago, the Abbott Government is cracking down on welfare cheats and dole recipients. From July 1 next year, working for the dole will become mandatory for almost every jobseeker in the country under expanded and tougher welfare reforms.

About 800,000 jobs seekers will have to look for more jobs, do more training and work for local councils or not-for-profit groups if they remain on benefits for more than a year.

The revamp is even tougher than the Government’s initial Work for the Dole scheme which started this month at only 18 locations throughout the country for job seekers aged 18-29. They have to work for the dole for only 12-15 hours a week for six months. Soon, that will increase to 25 hours a week.

Research in 2004 by Jeff Borland and Yi-Ping Tseng of Melbourne University found that “there appear to be quite large adverse effects of participation in [work for the dole]”. Those who were not in the program generally found it easier to find active employment.

Participation in these programs mostly diverts participants away from jobseeking activities towards what is often menial and unrewarding work. Some readers might doubt the significance of this effect but we should bear in mind that many candidates will have to write dozens of applications simply to find a single interview, let alone a job.

The Australian Greens said today a significant number of jobseekers will be punished and disadvantaged from any expansion of work for the dole.

"Work for the Dole is not an effective program for getting people into work and study, and is just another example of the Government's ideological war against income support and social security," Senator Rachel Siewert, Australian Greens spokesperson on family and community services said today.

Following the recent announcement of the increase in the eligibility age for the Age Pension to 70 years in 2035, this report provides a timely analysis of the types of workers most at risk of losing their job before the age of 65. The report details the types of Government payments received by people who have left the workforce prematurely, as well as their access to training opportunities. The report emphasises the need for the provision of early investments in reskilling opportunities for mature age people lacking formal qualifications and most at risk of long-term unemployment.

Record numbers of homeless people have been counted living on the streets of Melbourne, as help services strain under fresh demand created by a "perfect storm" of economic and social pressures in Victoria.

In recent years Melbourne City Council's regular survey of rough sleepers has found a relatively stable homeless population of about 100 people. But the most recent survey has revealed an unexpected 40 per cent increase since the last count in 2012.

There was a lunch in Eden, in the state’s south, on Wednesday, where a large crowd turned out to mark the closing, after seven years, of the local domestic violence outreach service.

It had been attached to the Bega Women’s Refuge which is being handed over to Mission Australia as part of the state government's Going Home, Staying Home homelessness reforms, and which is now limping along, most of its staff having gone or been let go, and unable to take in women fleeing violence.

Experiencing homelessness significantly increases your chance of having long-term physical health problem or being diagnosed with a mental health condition. More than 70% of respondents to a survey of more than 2,500 homeless people across England reported one or more physical health problems, while more than more than eight out of 10 reported a mental health issue.

Watching the end of Deal or No Deal before the evening news, Paul Gardener saw an advertisement he thought would solve all his problems.

Gardener, 27, had quit his job as a supermarket manager three years earlier when his mother developed breast cancer. He started caring for her full-time, switching from his $1000 weekly income to a carer’s pension of about $400 a week.

The drop in income left him struggling to pay his $850 a month rent for a share apartment in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray. And then, early last year, he saw an advertisement that promised fast easy cash.

Some of the childcare policies touted by the Productivity Commission risk dire consequences for children’s wellbeing and development, according to early childhood experts. One academic said it would be "internationally embarrassing" if Australia put economics and workforce participation ahead of children’s needs.

Women who take the pill choose partners who share a similar genetic profile causing them to lose interest in sex and become more likely to be the victim of violent assault and murder.

It is just one of the unconventional theories of Dr Angela Lanfranchi, an American pro-life campaigner who also pushes the debunked link between abortion and breast cancer.

Dr Lanfranchi is set to speak at next month's "World Congress of Families" event in Melbourne where she will share the stage with federal Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews, and a number of Victorian Liberals, including state Attorney-General Robert Clark and anti-abortion campaigner and Victorian upper house MP Bernie Finn.

Earlier this week, Rep. Paul Ryan visited with caseworkers and clients at Christo Rey Parish in Racine, Wisconsin, to see first-hand the impact that results-based and innovative service delivery models can have on reducing poverty in local communities and across the nation.

... “It was a privilege to host Representative Ryan today,” said Fr. Dave Bergner, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. “It was a wonderful opportunity for us to show the difference that individualized case management can make in addressing the needs of those who are struggling to get their lives back on track. We were so proud to share the stories of our clients who have come so far.”

“Individualized case management services can be just the helping hand that individuals and families in poverty are in need of,” said Deacon Richard Sage, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of LaCrosse. “Being able to discuss these innovative approaches with the congressman was an exciting chance to show the difference Catholic Charities agencies can make.”

To get out of poverty, some people need just temporary assistance. But to stay out of poverty, many people need to develop skills and life habits. In administering aid, the federal government has a major influence on low-income housing, transportation, and child care—all of which can help or hinder people trying to get ahead. Far too often, federal aid is fragmented and formulaic; it doesn’t coordinate these services to help people achieve their goals.

But there are organizations that do provide such comprehensive assistance, such as Catholic Charities. These groups focus on the unique needs of each family and help people develop their individual strengths. It is their intimate knowledge of the people they serve—as well as their ability to take the long view—that makes these groups so successful. They are more effective than distant federal bureaucracies for a simple reason: They don’t just relieve the pain of poverty; they give people the means to get out of poverty.

Inspired by their example, this proposal seeks to combine the resources of the federal government with the vast knowledge of states and local communities. By offering a more dynamic form of aid, the federal government can create a safety net that both catches the falling and supports the striving.

What if the poor need more than disposable income to escape poverty? What if they need a life coach?

That’s the position of House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, who in his new anti-poverty plan wants poor families to work with government agencies or charitable nonprofits to craft “life plans” as a condition of receiving federal assistance under his proposed “opportunity grants.” “In the envisioned scenario providers would work with families to design a customized life plan to provide a structured roadmap out of poverty,” Ryan writes. At a minimum, these life plans would include “a contract outlining specific and measurable benchmarks for success,” a “timeline” for meeting them, “sanctions” for breaking them, “incentives for exceeding the terms of the contract,” and “time limits”—presumably independent of actual program limits—for “remaining on cash assistance.”

There was something missing from the revised service agreements under which the federal government provides funding to community legal centres around Australia, recently sent out to 140-odd such organisations.

The old clause five was gone. That was the one that began: “The Commonwealth is committed to ensuring that its agreements do not contain provisions that could be used to stifle legitimate debate or prevent organisations engaging in advocacy activities.”

In matters of economic justice, Francis’ concerns are the same as Benedict’s and John Paul II’s and Pius XI’s and Leo XIII’s. He understands economic matters through the lens of Church teaching in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. Like his predecessors, he defends human dignity in a world that consistently threatens it. But Francis stresses more directly than they did that human solidarity is a necessary dimension of human dignity. We need both. Human dignity requires not just the protection of individuals, as in our pro-life work, but an ongoing commitment to the common good.

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Catholic Social Services Australia represents a national network of 52 Catholic social service organisations that provide direct support to hundreds of thousands of people in need each year on behalf of the Catholic Church. Our agencies provide a diverse range of support from assisting women and children escaping family violence, housing and homelessness support, to mental health and disability services. They also work in partnership with Indigenous people, and offer support and services to people seeking asylum and those who are refugees.